The Hollow Hills - Mary Stewart [129]
"With pleasure." I turned and pointed up one of the tracks which led out of the glade. "Will that one do? I don't know where it goes, but it might suffice to lose you."
"If it doesn't kill me," he said resignedly. "Of course it had to be that one, didn't it? In the normal way I'd just call that a bad guess, but seeing it's you -- "
"It was only a random choice, I assure you. I'm sorry. Is it so dangerous?"
"Well, if I'm supposed to be looking for Arthur there, it's guaranteed to keep me out of the way for quite some time." He gathered the reins, miming hasty agreement for the benefit of the unseen watcher. "No, seriously, my lord -- "
" 'Myrddin.' No lord of yours now, nor of any man's."
"Myrddin, then. No, it's a rough track but it's rideable -- just. What's more, it's just the way that devil's cub would have chosen to take...I told you, nothing you do can ever be quite random." He laughed. "Yes, it's good to have you back. I feel as if the world had been lifted off my shoulders. These last few years have been pretty full ones, believe me!"
"I believe you." He mounted, saluting, and I stepped back. He went across the glade at a canter, and then the sound of hoofs dwindled up the ferny track and was gone.
The boy was sitting on the table's edge, eating bread and honey. The honey was running off his chin. He slid to his feet when he saw me, wiped the honey off with the back of his hand, licked the hand and swallowed.
"Do you mind very much? There seemed to be plenty, and I was starving."
"Help yourself. There are dried figs in that bowl on the shelf."
"Not just now, thank you. I've had enough. I'd better water Star now, I think. I heard Ralf go."
As we led the horse across to the spring, he told me: "I call him Star for that white star on his forehead. Why did you smile then?"
"Only because when I was younger than you I had a pony called Aster; that means Star in Greek. And like you, I escaped from home one day and rode up into the hills and came across a hermit living alone -- it was a cave he lived in, not a chapel, but it was just as lonely -- and he gave me honey cakes and fruit."
"You mean you ran away?"
"Not really. Only for the day. I just wanted to get away alone. One has to, sometimes."
"Then you did understand? Is that why you sent Ralf away, and didn't tell him I was here? Most people would have told him straight away. They seem to think I need looking after," said Arthur in a tone of grievance. The horse lifted a streaming muzzle and blew the drops from its nostrils and turned from the water. We began to walk back across the clearing. He looked up. "I haven't thanked you yet. I'm much obliged to you. Ralf won't get into trouble, you know. I never tell when I give them the slip. My guardian would be angry, and it's not their fault. Ralf will come back this way, and I'll go with him then. And don't worry yourself, either; I won't let him harm you. It's always me he blames, anyway." That sudden grin again. "It's always my fault, as a matter of fact. Cei is older than me, but I get all the ideas."
We had reached the shed. He made as if to hand me the reins, then, as he had done before, stopped in mid-gesture, led the horse in himself and tied him up. I watched from the doorway.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Emrys. What's yours?"
"Myrddin. And, oddly enough, Emrys. But then that's a common name where I come from. Who is your guardian?"
"Count Ector. He's Lord of Galava." He turned from his task, his cheeks flushed. I could see he was waiting for the next question, the inevitable question, but I did not ask it. I had spent twelve years myself having to tell every man who spoke to me that I was the bastard of an unknown father: I did not intend